While many in the West perceive Vladimir Putin as an unrestrained strongman, expert Kimberly Marten says that the Russian president is deftly managing disparate factions surrounding the Kremlin.

A top U.S. State Department official says Washington wants the alliance to beat back the Taliban’s resurgence.

William Drozdiak, president of the American Council on Germany, and a former foreign editor of the Washington Post, says this Sunday’s parliamentary election in Germany “is probably the most importan…